Elections Canada Ruling Panned

Elections Canada Ruling Panned

Friday, October 27, 2006 at 14:31

The Jeremy Harrison camp is not impressed with a ruling handed down by Elections Canada earlier this week.

The former northern Saskatchewan MP alleged he lost the last federal election because of voting irregularities on certain Liberal-friendly reserves.

Harrison’s lawyer, James Rybchuk, says he can’t believe Elections Canada concluded there was no evidence of wrongdoing.

Rybchuk says the federal agency admitted there a community held a raffle designed to encourage people to vote — something Rybchuk says is clearly banned in the Election Act.

Rybchuk also says this week’s ruling didn’t explain how a ballot box went missing for two weeks following the election.

As well, he’s mystified how Elections Canada can dismiss the presence of Liberal-friendly campaign literature at some polling booths.

Rybchuk says Harrison could pursue this matter further, but likely won’t.